Yahoo Acquires Cool Microblogging Site Tumblr

Yahoo acquires “cool” microblogging site Tumblr for $1.1 billion (or €855 million). The transaction is expected to close in the second half of this year.

Yahoo claims the deal offers “unique opportunities” for both companies, seeing that Tumblr is one of the fastest growing social networks in the world. Other reason behind this acquisition is because Yahoo wants to change the image of its website to a younger and hipper site, in addition to Facebook and Google’s interest to acquire social media advertising markets which are worth $18 billion.

Tumblr allows you to publish content through browser and smartphones. Users are allowed to post text, photos, gif images, videos, and other files through the microblogging site. Every second, there are 900 new contents submitted to Tumblr, with 300 million monthly unique visitors and 120,000 daily signups. By this acquisition, Yahoo is expecting to double the monthly visitors to 1 billion.

Many people fear this acquisition to ruin the “cool” image that Tumblr has built all these years. However, in its press release, Yahoo promises public they will not “screw up” the microblogging site. "Per the agreement and our promise not to screw it up, Tumblr will be independently operated as a separate business. David Karp will remain CEO. The product, service and brand will continue to be defined and developed separately with the same Tumblr irreverence, wit, and commitment to empower creators," stated Yahoo in its press release.

Photo: I’m delighted to announce that we’ve reached an agreement to acquire Tumblr! We promise not to screw... tmblr.co/Z4v08slQ0n8V

In his blog, David Karp also confirmed to Tumblr fans that nothing on his site will change after this acquisition. He wrote "Before touching on how awesome this is, let me try to allay any concerns: We’re not turning purple. Our headquarters isn’t moving. Our team isn’t changing. Our roadmap isn’t changing. And our mission – to empower creators to make their best work and get it in front of the audience they deserve – certainly isn’t changing”.

Tumblr was founded in 2007 by the 20-year-old (back then) David Karp. The website is five years old and has recently started a paid advertising model. However, David decided to limit the ads because he did not want to scare the young users off by putting too many ads. The website makes no profit from its paid ads until now, also because a lack of metrics. Marketers are hoping Yahoo will help Tumblr in the advertisement segment.